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This work presents a design of a fan-beam metasurface with a low profile and a wide operating bandwidth. We introduce a new meta unit of four-loop structure which produces high refractive index over the wide operating bandwidth. The metasurface composes of impedance matching layers and core layers to contribute to the fan-beam radiation. A prototype working at X-band is designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results agree well with simulated ones. The measured results exhibit a wide bandwidth of 51%. The measured fan-beam radiation performances show that the 3-dB beamwidths on E and H-plane are 17. and 45., respectively. The realized metasurface is with the height of about 0.24 $\lambda_{0}$ , where $\lambda_{0}$ is the wavelength at center frequency in free space. Measured realized gain is about 15.6 dBi at center frequency. In addition, the measured cross polarization discrimination is better than 25 dB across the entire bandwidth.

Three-dimensional human pose estimation focuses on generating 3D pose sequences from 2D videos. It has enormous potential in the fields of human–robot interaction, remote sensing, virtual reality, and computer vision. Existing excellent methods primarily focus on exploring spatial or temporal encoding to achieve 3D pose inference. However, various architectures exploit the independent effects of spatial and temporal cues on 3D pose estimation, while neglecting the spatial–temporal synergistic influence. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel 3D pose estimation method with a dual-adaptive spatial–temporal former (DASTFormer) and additional supervised training. The DASTFormer contains attention-adaptive (AtA) and pure-adaptive (PuA) modes, which will enhance pose inference from 2D to 3D by adaptively learning spatial–temporal effects, considering both their cooperative and independent influences. In addition, an additional supervised training with batch variance loss is proposed in this work. Different from common training strategy, a two-round parameter update is conducted on the same batch data. Not only can it better explore the potential relationship between spatial–temporal encoding and 3D poses, but it can also alleviate the batch size limitations imposed by graphics cards on transformer-based frameworks. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed method significantly outperforms most state-of-the-art approaches on Human3.6 and HumanEVA datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the leading cause of anovulatory infertility. Inadequate understanding of the ovulation drivers hinders PCOS intervention. Herein, we report that follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) controls follicular fluid (FF) glutamine levels to determine ovulation. Murine ovulation starts from FF-exposing granulosa cell (GC) apoptosis. FF glutamine, which decreases in pre-ovulation porcine FF, elevates in PCOS patients FF. High-glutamine chow to elevate FF glutamine inhibits mouse GC apoptosis and induces hormonal, metabolic, and morphologic PCOS traits. Mechanistically, follicle-development-driving FSH promotes GC glutamine synthesis to elevate FF glutamine, which maintain follicle wall integrity by inhibiting GC apoptosis through inactivating ASK1-JNK apoptotic pathway. FSH and glutamine inhibit the rapture of cultured murine follicles. Glutamine removal or ASK1-JNK pathway activation with metformin or AT-101 reversed PCOS traits in PCOS models that are induced with either glutamine or EsR1 -KO. These suggest that glutamine, FSH, and ASK1-JNK pathway are targetable to alleviate PCOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our present knowledge about the efficacy of tea consumption in improving age-related cognitive disorders is incomplete since previous epidemiological studies provide inconsistent evidence. This unified systematic review and meta-analysis based on updated epidemiological cohort studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evidence aimed to overcome the limitations of previous reviews by examining the efficacy of distinct types of tea consumption. PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE were searched up to May 20, 2022, and 23 cohorts and 12 cross-sectional studies were included. Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted to obtain pooled RRs or mean differences with 95% CIs. The pooled RRs of the highest versus lowest tea consumption categories were 0.81 (95% CIs: 0.75–0.88) and 0.69 (95% CIs: 0.61–0.77), respectively. The pooled mean difference of four included RCTs revealed a beneficial effect of tea on cognitive dysfunction (MMSE ES: 1.03; 95% CI, 0.14–1.92). Subgroup analyses further demonstrated that green and black tea intake was associated with a lower risk of cognitive disorders in eastern countries, especially in women. The evidence quality was generally low to moderate. The present review provides insight into whether habitual tea consumption can be an effective approach against age-related neurodegenerative cognitive disorders and summarizes potential mechanisms based on currently published literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stochastic magnetic field noise has a non‐negligible negative impact on the performance of quantum precision measurement instruments such as spin‐exchange relaxation‐free (SERF) co‐magnetometer in terms of sensitivity and stability. Conventional magnetic field error analysis and suppression methods are not applicable to stochastic magnetic field noise. In this paper, a stochastic model of the SERF co‐magnetometer is proposed to analyze the mechanism of stochastic magnetic field noise. The mean and covariance propagation model of the SERF co‐magnetometer is given based on the stochasticity model and statistical principles. The analysis of simulation experiments reveals that reducing the longitudinal electron spin polarization can somewhat reduce the standard deviation of the system output caused by stochastic magnetic field noise. And the atomic ensembles are most resistant to stochastic magnetic field noise when the electron spin polarization strongly couples with the nuclear spin polarization. Finally, the experiments verified the above conclusions. In conclusion, this paper provides theoretical and experimental support for analyzing and suppressing the effect of stochastic magnetic field noise on the SERF co‐magnetometer, which is of great significance for improving the sensitivity and stability of the measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the changes in proteins and volatile flavor compounds that occur in bacon during low-temperature smoking (LTS) and identify potential correlations between these changes. To achieve this, a combination of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and proteomics was employed. A total of 42 volatile flavor compounds were identified in the bacon samples, and, during LTS, 11 key volatile flavor compounds with variable importance were found at a projection value of >1, including 2′,4′-dihydroxyacetophenone, 4-methyl-2H-furan-5-one, Nonanal, etc. In total, 2017 proteins were quantified at different stages of LTS; correlation coefficients and KEGG analyses identified 27 down-regulated flavor-related proteins. Of these, seven were involved in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, metabolic pathways, or amino acid metabolism, and they may be associated with the process of flavor formation. Furthermore, correlation coefficient analysis indicated that certain chemical parameters, such as the contents of free amino acids, carbonyl compounds, and TCA cycle components, were closely and positively correlated with the formation of key volatile flavor compounds. Combined with bioinformatic analysis, the results of this study provide insights into the proteins present in bacon at various stages of LTS. This study demonstrates the changes in proteins and the formation of volatile flavor compounds in bacon during LTS, along with their potential correlations, providing a theoretical basis for the development of green processing methods for Hunan bacon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of electric vehicles, people have higher requirement for the energy density and lifespan of power batteries. The cycle performance and rate performance of lithium-ion batteries can be effectively improved through the modification of the positive and negative active materials, the application of new conductive agents and binders, and the optimized design of the electrode group distribution ratio. However, the problems caused by the preparation process of the traditional electrode and the characteristics of the single-layer electrode structure put a limit on the further improvement of the performance of the lithium-ion battery. Therefore, solving the problems of the traditional single-layer electrode structure itself is an important direction of lithium-ion battery research. Three solutions to solve the problems of the single-layer electrode structure by analyzing the related research on the multilayer composite electrode structure were summarized in this paper which are increasing the stability of the electrode surface, increasing the conductivity of the electrode surface and adjusting the internal component distribution of the electrode, and they have their own advantages.By analyzing the characteristics and limitations of different schemes and preparation processes, new directions and ideas for electrode design and engineering application of lithium-ion batteries and other battery systems were proposed in this paper. Finally, the current research status of the multilayer composite electrode structure was summarized in this paper.

Abstract Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a destructive traumatic disease of the central nervous system without satisfying therapy efficiency. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) therapy promotes the neurotrophic factors’ secretion and axonal regeneration, thereby promoting recovery of SCI. Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) therapy has been proven to promote neural growth and regeneration. Both BMMSCs and PEMF have shown curative effects for SCI; PEMF can further promote stem cell differentiation. Thus, we explored the combined effects of BMMSCs and PEMF and the potential interaction between these two therapies in SCI. Compared with the SCI control, BMMSCs, and PEMF groups, the combinational therapy displayed the best therapeutic effect. Combinational therapy increased the expression levels of nutritional factors including brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factors (NGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), enhanced neuron preservation (NeuN and NF‐200), and increased axonal growth (MBP and myelin sheath). Additionally, PEMF promoted the expression levels of BDNF and VEGF in BMMSCs via Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathway. In summary, the combined therapy of BMMSCs and PEMF displayed a more satisfactory effect than BMMSCs and PEMF therapy alone, indicating a promising application of combined therapy for the therapy of SCI.

Early and accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) is extremely important, as metastatic PCa remains hard to treat. EWI‐2, a member of the Ig protein subfamily, is known to inhibit PCa cell migration. In this study, we found that EWI‐2 localized on both the cell membrane and exosomes regulates the distribution of miR‐3934‐5p between cells and exosomes. Interestingly, we observed that EWI‐2 is localized not only on the plasma membrane but also on the nuclear envelope (nuclear membrane), where it regulates the nuclear translocation of signaling molecules and miRNA. Collectively, these functions of EWI‐2 found in lipid bilayers appear to regulate PCa cell metastasis through the epidermal growth factor receptor‐mitogen‐activated protein kinase‐extracellular‐signal‐regulated kinase (EGFR‐MAPK‐ERK) pathway. Our research provides new insights into the molecular function of EWI‐2 on PCa metastasis, and highlights EWI‐2 as a potential PCa biomarker.

A novel method has been successfully developed for the facile and efficient removal of organic micro-pollutants (OMP) from water based on novel functional capsules encapsulating molecular-recognizable nanogels. The functional capsules are composed of ultrathin calcium alginate (Ca-Alg) hydrogel shells as semipermeable membranes and encapsulated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid-g-mono-(6-ethanediamine-6-deoxy)-β-cyclodextrin) (PNCD) nanogels with β-cyclodextrin (CD) moieties as OMP capturers. The semipermeable membranes of the capsules enable the free transfer of OMP and water molecules across the capsule shells, but confine the encapsulated PNCD nanogels within the capsules. Bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical that is released from many plastic water containers, was chosen as a model OMP molecule in this study. Based on the host–guest recognition complexation, the CD moieties in the PNCD nanogels can efficiently capture BPA molecules. Thus, the facile and efficient removal of BPA from water can be achieved by immersing the proposed functional capsules into BPA-containing aqueous solutions and then simply removing them, which is easily done due to the capsules’ characteristically large size of up to several millimeters. The kinetics of adsorption of BPA molecules by the capsules is well described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the isothermal adsorption thermodynamics align well with the Freundlich and Langmuir isothermal adsorption models. The regeneration of capsules can be achieved simply by washing them with water at temperatures above the volume phase transition temperature of the PNCD nanogels. Thus, the proposed functional capsules encapsulating molecular-recognizable nanogels provide a novel strategy for the facile and efficient removal of OMP from water.